No-independence vote poised to win in Scotland

1of2Better Together campaigners celebrate early poll results at a party in Glasgow, Scotland.Photo: Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

2of2GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: "Yes" Supporters react to the polls closing in George Square as Scotland awaits the results of the Scottish Independence referendum vote on September 18, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. Scotland. Polls have now closed in the Scottish referendum and the United Kingdom await the results of this historic vote. With a substantial turnout at the polling stations the vote is too close to call and the result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images

Scotland rejected independence in a referendum, with the campaign to keep the country in the United Kingdom prevailing by a wider margin than predicted in the most recent polls, according to BBC projections.

With 26 of Scotland's 32 local authorities declared, the Better Together camp backed by Prime Minister David Cameron and the main U.K. parties had garnered 54 percent of the vote, while the yes campaign led by Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond had 46 percent.

“The evidence that the no' side is going to win is beginning to stack up,” said John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University. The result in Glasgow “adds further weight that the no' side has won the referendum and won it pretty comfortably,” he said.

The pound surged as counting continued of the ballots cast across Scotland Thursday. After wins for the “no” side, support for independence in the cities of Dundee and Glasgow narrowed the overall gap. Final results were not in by press time.

“It does look like we have secured a 'no' vote,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, a Liberal Democrat and the most senior Scot in the U.K. government, told Sky News as the first results trickled in. “But a 'no' vote is also for change, it's our responsibility to get on with that.”

The results so far from Scotland's 4.3 million electorate broadly tallied with a prediction made by YouGov Plc of a 54 percent “no” vote to 46 percent for “yes.” YouGov based its forecast on a poll of 1,828 people conducted after they voted.

Peter Kellner, president of YouGov, said he was 99 percent certain of victory for the “no” camp that has the backing of Cameron's Conservatives, his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and Labour. He said concerns independence could hurt the economy had pushed voters away from “yes.”

Clackmannanshire, the smallest municipality in mainland Scotland, became the first council to declare, giving the result to “no” by 54 percent to 46 percent.